70.3 season selection & odds of Atlantic City or Waco 70.3 selling out in 2018?
Hi all,
I'm registered for CdA 70.3 6/24/18 and Steelhead 70.3 8/13/18 and very excited about 2018.
My 2018 goal is to get IM AWA (All World Athlete) silver or gold status and if possible get a 70.3 world championship qualifying slot. This year I placed ~20th in my AG at Steelhead 70.3 (my first "long course" race), and I age-group up next year. Based on the points I scored, the times of the older AG at Steelhead (the AG I'll be in next year) and looking at the AWA silver/gold cut off, silver should be pretty attainable if I can place as well as I did, but gold will/may be a stretch (aka exciting challenge).
My two options for a 3rd 70.3 race:
For 9/23/18, I would probably have to fly or drive out on Friday 9/21 and fly/drive back on Sunday 9/23 (fly?) or Monday 9/24 (fly or drive). This is "during the school year," so missing class on Friday and Monday is possible, but less than ideal. Not much time for course reconn and having a calm lead-up to the race. But, I have a good buddy from middle school, HS and college in Phili who is geeked to do this race with me if I say I can do it. I could share a hotel room with him. We've been wanting to race together for a couple years and never have. I've also been saying for a year or two I would visit him in Phili, so this would kinda be a visit
. This only allows 6 weeks between Steelhead and Atlantic City. But that seems like enough to recover, get a couple hard weeks in, and taper again.
10/28 is at the end of my "fall break," so I could spend the whole week in AustinSun City with my entire family (where they all live), and this would allow more time for course reconn. But this requires me to carry a full HIM training load during more of the fall semester. I'm a lot busier with work in the fall semester than during the summer. So that is a concern.
Originally I was leaning toward Waco, because all my family is in Austin, and it would allow me more time to (hopefully) improve in fitness/exection. But I'm also nervous about needed to score max points in 3/3 races to meet my AWA goal and not having a chance for a 4th race if I have a bad day. I'm also a bit nervous about carrying a more full HIM training schedule through more of my fall semester (as opposed to some recovery time and RDP or OS starting 9/24/18).
If I have Atlantic City be my third "A" race, and I have a bad performance at one of the first three, I could always decide to do Waco (5 weeks later), if I really wanted (if it doesn't sell out). Or if I was ready for the season to be done, and/or the first three races go really well, I could be done and just go visit my family during fall break in late October without a HIM to focus on.
I guess a couple additional considerations:
@Coach Patrick and I have discussed this in my micro thread, but I figured I'd get the team to weigh-in also.
THANKS!
I'm registered for CdA 70.3 6/24/18 and Steelhead 70.3 8/13/18 and very excited about 2018.
My 2018 goal is to get IM AWA (All World Athlete) silver or gold status and if possible get a 70.3 world championship qualifying slot. This year I placed ~20th in my AG at Steelhead 70.3 (my first "long course" race), and I age-group up next year. Based on the points I scored, the times of the older AG at Steelhead (the AG I'll be in next year) and looking at the AWA silver/gold cut off, silver should be pretty attainable if I can place as well as I did, but gold will/may be a stretch (aka exciting challenge).
My two options for a 3rd 70.3 race:
- Atlantic City, NJ 70.3 9/23/18
- Waco, TX 70.3 10/28/18
For 9/23/18, I would probably have to fly or drive out on Friday 9/21 and fly/drive back on Sunday 9/23 (fly?) or Monday 9/24 (fly or drive). This is "during the school year," so missing class on Friday and Monday is possible, but less than ideal. Not much time for course reconn and having a calm lead-up to the race. But, I have a good buddy from middle school, HS and college in Phili who is geeked to do this race with me if I say I can do it. I could share a hotel room with him. We've been wanting to race together for a couple years and never have. I've also been saying for a year or two I would visit him in Phili, so this would kinda be a visit
. This only allows 6 weeks between Steelhead and Atlantic City. But that seems like enough to recover, get a couple hard weeks in, and taper again.10/28 is at the end of my "fall break," so I could spend the whole week in AustinSun City with my entire family (where they all live), and this would allow more time for course reconn. But this requires me to carry a full HIM training load during more of the fall semester. I'm a lot busier with work in the fall semester than during the summer. So that is a concern.
Originally I was leaning toward Waco, because all my family is in Austin, and it would allow me more time to (hopefully) improve in fitness/exection. But I'm also nervous about needed to score max points in 3/3 races to meet my AWA goal and not having a chance for a 4th race if I have a bad day. I'm also a bit nervous about carrying a more full HIM training schedule through more of my fall semester (as opposed to some recovery time and RDP or OS starting 9/24/18).
If I have Atlantic City be my third "A" race, and I have a bad performance at one of the first three, I could always decide to do Waco (5 weeks later), if I really wanted (if it doesn't sell out). Or if I was ready for the season to be done, and/or the first three races go really well, I could be done and just go visit my family during fall break in late October without a HIM to focus on.
I guess a couple additional considerations:
- Is either Waco or Atlantic City likely to sell out?
- Do you think one race would be easier to place higher in the Men's 35-39 AG?
@Coach Patrick and I have discussed this in my micro thread, but I figured I'd get the team to weigh-in also.
THANKS!
1
Comments
I think it would be short-sighted of WTC to abandon AWA. Without it, there is much less motivation to do more than two races a year; 2019, I'm eyeing "going for the gold" again, which will require doing three IMs.
I too would be shocked if they ditched AWA... It provides them with a "rankings" system, it also does have some benefits (I think the only one I use is the faster check in line at IM). Probably most important to IM is the revenue stream off of the AWA merchandise.
Also, I am friends with a pro who I have coffee/ breakfast etc with when he's in town. In our last one, we had a chat about doping, both pro & AG. He thinks that IM turns a blind eye to it as these are the people that can hit multiple races per year with greater ease and will ante up for the races. Frequent fliers and anything they can do to encourage that will always be important to them. I'd expect to see changes to it vs them scrapping it.
SS
@scott dinhofer, I'm not sure if a WC slot is realistic, but we'll see. Based on my analyses (semi-limited), you could potentially get gold by placing top 10-15 in 3 races. So to get a WC slot, it would either have to roll down far (which it did for South Africa, but may not as much for France), or I"d have to place higher. My numbers are not amazing at the moment, but if I can get my resting/sleeping down better, I think I can make some solid progress, and we've got a lot of time.
Thanks a ton for the heads up about Waco potentially selling out @Scott Alexander and the cool finish @Paul Hough
@Robert Sabo , thanks a ton for the reminder that I'd have to wait around for potential roll down. That's not something I'm used to!
Sounds like 2 ENers at Waco and 0 so far at AC. If I do race Waco, I will look forward to seeing you there, @Paul Hough and @Shaughn Simmons ! I would probably be able to recon this course over the summer, or the week prior.
Will they have the triwaco triathlon again? as that would be great training prep for the half.. wondering aloud.
Awesome that you are racing in South Africa! I have a chance to qualify in Idaho on 6/24, but it would be a stretch, and even if I do, I don't think I'm going to make plans to go in only ~2 months, or plan some sort of refundable trip in the rare event that I do qualify. If the numbers in the coming months and/or this spring/summer suggest there is a chance, I'll shoot for Nice 2019.
@ironmarianne, where are you located, if Waco is only 2 hours south of you? I'm in Dallas.
@Scott Alexander: Aging up and planning a “All Texas” 70.3 season in 2019.
IMAZ is my 2018 ‘A Race.” My Buffalo Springs tri club peeps will all be going to Waco, I will definately be in a 4 week taper, and may not need a final race sim... I’m thinking Coach P might give me the green light.